


The Lions of Voltron

by ProwlingThunder



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Pidge | Katie Holt, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), F/M, Galra Empire, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra Occupation, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 08:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13477659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProwlingThunder/pseuds/ProwlingThunder
Summary: Pidge is in Voltron looking for herfamily,not rebellions. Well, no, she is definitely looking for rebellions, just notthisparticular rebellion..





	The Lions of Voltron

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CompleteCraziness](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=CompleteCraziness).



> Sorry in Advance.  
> For the Write Room 2017 Secret Santa.

Something was wrong, Pidge thought, staring into the inky gloom of her room. On the desk, several monitors flickered through security protocols, but nothing showed alarm or abnormality to be concerned over. Still,  _ something _ had woken her, and she hadn't survived this long inside Voltron by ignoring her instincts, so she found herself climbing free of the comforts of bed to get a better look.

It showed nothing at first blush. The security system installed was  _ better _ than anything anyone else in the city could have gotten, and she knew that because she had  _ built _ it, putting to test the technological skill she had acquired over the course of her life. She and her brother had been good at that, their father's brains and not much of their mother's green fingers; she had gotten better, of course, that year between Dad and Matt leaving and them learning they'd been lost, but she still wasn't nearly as good as her mother was, and she didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Computers were  _ much _ simpler than plants.

It was the security cameras in the greenhouses that showed something off. Subtle, not something her algorithms would have pinged as dangerous  _ or _ flagged at all. Just a shadow through the human-centric crops, moving through tomato leaves and plots of trailing beans, a shape-- no,  _ two _ shapes, making their way for the hatch hidden in stonework and vines. She'd had to get clever these last few years, hiding Sal's secret garden, as the Galra cracked down on rumors of Altean flora in the city, hunting down tiny tidbits of Altean art and book, destroying-- renovating, they claimed-- the remnants of the ancient Altean buildings that had made Voltron an elven stronghold in ages passed. The amount of people who even knew Sal had a basement beneath the restaurant, even discarding the greenhouse, was pathetically small.

Yet someone was going there.

 

Speaking of pathetically small, the Altean garden was  _ tiny _ when compared to the two surface gardens, but it was prettier. With the solar-lights off, the entire surface of the petals glowed with bioluminescent dust. Mostly in the darker shades that had been borne from cross-pollination from human and Galran flora, the reds and violets and blues. She kept a sealed room for the purist Altean strains, a feat of reverse-engineering that her mother would have been proud of, bringing back the pale snow-whites and ancient sky blues they were now only known for in antique literature.

It came off like dust at every touch, be it from a good breeze or a light brush of the finger. Sal used them for garnishes, spices, and, occasionally, secret letters; the dust itself was invisible under true light, which made them good for pillow-poems.

Carefully, Pidge made her way through the thin path in the growth. The HUD of her eyeglasses picked out smudges of color where there shouldn’t be, lack of color on petals where there really  _ should _ be. The leaves were less colorful in the dark, only the edges producing dust of any sort-- but they were fresh-spring green, like the neon glow of her power-glove and digitizer, like the shade of the Altean stripes that Pidge hid with human make-up. Being down here always made her feel like she was back home instead of Voltron City, in the family gardens and away from Galra patrols and seedy rebellions and the last place her father and brother had been seen--

That splash of sanguine was over-oxygenated blood, not Altean flower. Pidge stopped for a moment, keeping her attention turned outward even as she hovered her fingers over it, digitizer running a quick chemical, biological analysis. Nothing  _ seemed _ to stir, but she was sure she had seen people coming down here--

_ Biological Analysis Complete,  _ the HUD read out.  _ Multiple samples detected at location.  _ Huh. Okay. The helix structures that popped up were kind of impressive. A standard double-human with some odd flurs and barbs that her computer was claiming matched some Galran arcs, but this was  _ Voltron, _ demi-Galrans ran rampant around the city. In the background her system ran a genetic matching scope, trying to determine the identity of her intruder. The second helix…

_ WARNING! _ flashed across her glasses, bold and fire-engine red. Below it, _ ALTEAN DNA detected. Purity test inconclusive. Larger sample required. _

In the gloom, blue-flowered plants shifted, and a pair of eyes glowed gold in the low light; Pidge threw up her gloved arm out of instinct,  _ feeling  _ as well as  _ hearing _ metal scream down the armor plating. The contact fed information to her, a string of numbers and letters flitting across her gaze;  _ Structural damage 0.02 percent. Weapon unknown. Analyzing material composition. _

She struck out with her digitizer, prongs snapping forward into an electrified chevron--

 

Later, when Pidge watches the recording of what happens next, she will be able to say,  _ this is where the Marmorite leapt out of the foliage and caught my digitizer to his face-plate. _ She will be able to say,  _ this is where the Altean lunged at me from the side and caught me unaware. _ She will be able to say, accurately, that she tazed him too, sent him reeling; her father was human, but her mother wasn’t, and Sal and Hunk haven’t been teaching her for the last decade how to hit things and make them  _ hurt _ for no good reason.

Later, years from now, she’ll be able to watch this recording with friends and say  _ I kicked both your asses. _

For the time being, however, Pidge isn’t quite sure how she goes from socking the Marmorite in the face to helping him and the Altean clean and bandage their wounds in the garden sink. But there she is anyway.

“So,” she begins, and the Marmorite stiffens, looking up at her from beneath dark forelocks like a half-feral kitten hiding under the couch-- looking remarkably human beneath his helmet, actually, wide violet eyes and a mane of black hair, pale skin. “Do you two want to tell me why you broke into my home and the  _ highly poisonous plant garden?” _

“They’re poisonous? But they’re so... pretty..?” The other boy looks a little younger than the Marmorite, though only a little, but honestly, with Alteans, looks are a garbage way to tell age. Pidge ought to know, honestly. His eyes are blue, the color of oceans, and his hair is pale as frost but his skin is dark, like river-silt. His markings--  _ Altean _ markings-- glow a soft neon-mint shade, in exaggerated v-shapes. 

They’re not poisonous, of course, the plants. Pidge settles for glaring at her intruders, because they  _ could have been _ . 

The Marmorite half-human drops his gaze but only to return to tightening the bandages on the Altean’s arm. For a moment, the Altean’s words have stumbled as he tries to find balance in everything, and then he frowns at her from his perch on her chopping counter. “I’m sorry for intruding, but we-- Keith and I-- we needed a place to hide. He mentioned a place that his people go for communication, and there was no time to consider alternatives if we wanted to escape and be out of view of any patrols. Was he wrong?”

_ Keith _ wasn’t a name she’d ever heard of a Galra having. Too.. human. Not enough teeth, a growl. But then, he  _ was _ a Marmorite…. and clearly part human himself. Pidge leaned against her sink and folded her arms, watching them. The Blade of Marmora was a rebellion group she  _ did _ know about. Half the reason she worked at Sal’s was because it was a rebellion hotspot, and everything she’d managed to find hinted that her family was working with them. Not that she’d found much, yet, and she  _ really _ didn’t like the idea of hiding an actual pure Altean down here. It was hard enough to hide her  _ own _ blood-work! “It’s still called breaking and entering. You’re lucky you didn’t trip my security system.”

“It wasn’t luck.”  _ Keith _ snorted, mumbling under his breath.

The look her other intruder gave him was nothing short of fond, but it was a brief glance at best. Then he returned his attention to Pidge. “I understand if you will not keep us, but just a few days, perhaps--”

“I can’t stay,” Keith pointed out. “You know that. They’ll notice I’m gone quicker than they’ll notice you, and the Blades still need me where I’m at.  _ You _ need me where I’m at.”

It devolved into a charged conversation after that, so Pidge took the chance to slip out of the room and compose a quick message to Sal. She didn’t know how he’d like taking an active hand in helping the rebellions that were brewing or not, didn’t know if he usually sheltered the members. Hunk, at least, would be all over helping them, but Hunk was a lot more sociable than their boss was. At least Sal had to understand how much better it’d probably be if the Galra weren’t taxing the restaurant to death..

 

[So I’m thinking of changing the name of the business to Lions of Voltron.] 

[It’s called Vrepit Sal’s for a reason.]

[Yeah, all due patriotism. But Lions of Voltron would be really cool too!]

[I’ll think about it.]

[Also the security system had a bug.]

[...what?] 

[Yeah. I’ll leave it alone until you come in tomorrow and I can show you what happened.]

[Katie--]

[Going back to bed! Goodnight Sal!]


End file.
